The clinical research programme specifically focused on the failing right ventricle, developing end points for clinical trials in pulmonary hypertension, conducting in-house Phase II trials of novel agents for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension, and vasculopathy in sickle cell disease. Additional studies investigated the pulmonary circulation at high altitude both in the high alps and in a barochamber. This programme was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Medical Research Council and the National Institutes of Health (USA). It was conducted in collaboration with Professor Martin Wilkins in Clinical Pharmacology and colleagues in Europe and the USA.

He has participated in task forces at the World Symposia on Pulmonary Hypertension, UK, European and American guidelines task forces in pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary embolism, pregnancy in heart disease and emergency oxygen, international pulmonary hypertension clinical trial steering committees, data and safety monitoring boards and end points adjudication committees. He has also served as an Expert European Scientific Advisor to the European Medicines Agency, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the International Society of Mountain Medicine. He has made presentations to congresses and societies across the UK, Europe, North America and Asia.

Dr Gibbs is Past Chairman of the Working Group on the Pulmonary Circulation and Right Ventricle at the European Society of Cardiology, and was co-chairman of the left heart disease and pulmonary hypertension task force of the International Society of Heart & Lung Transplantation. He was elected a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology in 2009.